Darn it. Darn it. Darn it.

He moved back to the bench. She stowed her handbag, made sure the kids had their seatbelts fastened and then moved to the driver’s seat. She glanced at Mr Fairhall and bit her lip.

Blowing out a breath, she wound down the passenger side window. ‘Mr Fairhall?’

He glanced up.

‘We’ve just had a family conference.’

He stood. He wasn’t terribly tall—he might be six feet—but he had a lean, athletic body that moved with effortless grace. She watched him approach—stared as he approached—and her mouth started to dry and her heart started to pound. She tried to shake herself out from under the spell, only she found she’d frozen in position. She wished now she hadn’t called him over.

With a superhuman effort she cleared her throat. ‘As we’re … uh … all headed in the same direction we thought if you would like a lift all or part of the way …’

He blinked. Hope lit his face, making it truly beautiful, firing his brown eyes with a light that made her swallow.

Road Trip with

the Eligible

Bachelor

Michelle Douglas

www.millsandboon.co.uk

At the age of eight MICHELLE DOUGLAS was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She answered, ‘A writer.’ Years later she read an article about romance writing and thought, Ooh, that’ll be fun. She was right. When she’s not writing she can usually be found with her nose buried in a book. She is currently enrolled in an English Masters programme for the sole purpose of indulging her reading and writing habits further. She lives in a leafy suburb of Newcastle, on Australia’s east coast, with her own romantic hero—husband Greg, who is the inspiration behind all her happy endings.

Michelle would love you to visit her at her website: www.michelle-douglas.com.

To my gorgeous nephew, Josh—hero and all-round good guy

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EXCERPT

CHAPTER ONE

‘HELLO.’ QUINN LAVERTY tried to find a smile for the customer service clerk on the other side of the counter. She raised her voice to be heard above the jostling crowd. ‘I’m here to collect the car I booked.’

‘Name, please?’

Quinn gave him her details and tried to slide her credit card free from its slot in her purse with one hand. Chase hung off her other hand, all of his six-year-old weight balanced on one leg and her arm as he stretched as far as he could reach along the counter with his toy car, making the requisite ‘broom-broom’ noises.

She made him straighten and stand on two legs and then grimaced at the customer beside her who’d been ‘driven over’ by said toy car. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘No problem at all.’

He flashed her a smile and she found herself smiling back. Nice smile. Really nice eyes. Actually...

She frowned. There was something faintly familiar about him. She stared and then shook herself and shrugged it off, turning back to the clerk. It might just be that he was the exact model of son her father had always wanted—clean-cut, professional and respectable. She did her best not to hold that against him.

Speaking of sons...

She glanced to her left. Robbie leaned with his back against the counter and stared up at the ceiling, his face dreamy. Quinn tried to channel some of his calm. She hadn’t expected this all to take so long.

Mind you, when she’d booked the car over a month ago she hadn’t thought there’d be a national plane strike either.

‘I’m afraid there’s been a slight change to the model of car you booked.’

Her attention spun back to the clerk. ‘What kind of change?’

‘Ow!’ Chase pulled his hand from hers and glared.

‘Sorry, honey.’ She smoothed down his hair and smiled at him, but a fist tightened in her chest. She glanced back at the clerk. ‘What kind of change?’ she repeated.

‘We no longer have that model of car available.’

But she’d booked it a whole month ago especially!

The commotion in the car rental office didn’t die down. Beside her she sensed her neighbour’s frustration growing too. ‘I have to leave Perth today!’ He didn’t shout, but every word was clipped and strong.

He glanced at her and she suddenly realised she was staring. She sent him a buck-up smile and turned back to the clerk, doing her best to block out all the background noise. ‘I’m driving across the Nullarbor Plain. I need a car that can go the distance.’

‘I understand the reasons you booked a four-wheel drive, Mrs Laverty, but we just don’t have any available.’

Brilliant.

She didn’t bother correcting him on the Mrs. People made that assumption all the time.

She lifted her chin, preparing for a fight. ‘I have a lot of luggage to fit into the car.’ Another reason she’d chosen a four-wheel drive.

‘Which is why we’ve upgraded you.’

Was that what they called it? She folded her arms. She’d chosen the car she had because of its safety and reliability rating. As far as fuel efficiency went it was one of the best too. It was the perfect car to take them across the country.

‘We’ve upgraded you to a late model station wagon.’

‘Does it have four-wheel drive?’

‘No, ma’am.’

Quinn closed her eyes briefly, but all that did was underscore the scent of desperation and outrage in the air.

‘I want to speak to the manager,’ the man beside her clipped out.

‘But, sir—’

‘Now!’

She drew in a breath and opened her eyes. ‘I need a four-wheel drive. The fuel consumption on that wagon will be outrageous and as I’ll be travelling to New South Wales in it that’s an awful lot of fuel.’ She’d be driving the car for forty hours. Probably more. ‘And, I might add, with none of the benefits the four-wheel drive offers.’

Driving suddenly seemed like the stupidest idea a woman had ever had. She lifted her chin another notch. ‘Thank you, but I don’t want an upgrade. I want the car I originally booked.’

The clerk scratched his nose and shuffled his feet, staring everywhere but at her. ‘The thing is, ma’am, with the plane strike, you understand there just aren’t any four-wheel drives currently available.’

‘But I booked this over a month ago!’

‘I understand and I do apologise. We won’t be charging you for the upgrade. In fact, we’ll be offering you a discount and a credit voucher.’

That was something at least. Quinn couldn’t afford to stray too far from the budget she’d set herself.

‘And the crux of the matter is...’ the clerk leaned confidentially across the counter ‘...there isn’t anything else available.’ He gestured to the crowded room behind Quinn. ‘If you don’t want the station wagon we’ll have plenty of other takers who will.’

She glanced back behind her too and grimaced.

‘I can’t guarantee when a four-wheel drive vehicle will become available.’

She bit back a sigh. ‘We’ll take it.’ She didn’t have any other option. They’d sold up practically everything they owned. The lease on their house had run out and new tenants were expected within the next few days. Their lives no longer belonged here in Perth. Besides, she’d made a booking at a caravan park in Merredin for this afternoon. She didn’t want to lose her booking fee on that as well.

‘Excellent. I just need you to sign here and here.’

Quinn signed and then followed the clerk out through a side door. She made sure both boys had their backpacks—they’d refused to leave them with the rest of the luggage back at the house.

‘Keep the paperwork on you. You’ll need it for the Newcastle office. And if you’ll just wait here the car will be brought around in a jiffy.’

‘Thank you.’

The relative quiet out here after the cacophony in the office was bliss.

Robbie sat on a nearby bench and swung his feet. Chase immediately knelt on the ground beside the bench and ‘broom-broomed’ his toy car around.

‘I’m sorry, Mr Fairhall, I wish I could help you. I have your card so if something comes up I’ll let you know immediately.’

Fairhall? That was it! She’d known she’d seen him before. She turned to confirm it anyway. Uh huh, her neighbour at the service counter had been none other than Aidan Fairhall, up-and-coming politician. He’d been travelling the country canvassing for support. He had hers.

He had a nice on-air manner too. No doubt it was all orchestrated as these things were, but he came across as intelligent and polite.

Polite shouldn’t be overrated. In her opinion there should be more of it. Especially in politics.

She watched him slump onto a neighbouring bench as the man with the manager badge pinned to his shirt strode away. His shoulders drooped and he dropped his head to his hands. He raked his hands through his hair and then suddenly froze. He glanced up at her—a long sidelong look from beneath his hand—and she swallowed, realising she’d been caught out staring at him twice now.

He straightened. Her heart did a crazy little thump-thump. She swallowed and shrugged. ‘I couldn’t help overhearing. I’m sorry.’

He smiled, but she sensed the strain behind it. ‘It looks as if you’ve had more luck.’

Her lips twisted. ‘Considering I booked this car over a month ago...’

He let out a breath, nodded. ‘It’d be very poor form if they cancelled it on you at this late date.’

‘But they’re not giving us the car we wanted,’ Robbie piped up.

She should’ve known he’d been listening. His dreamy expression lulled her every single time. ‘But it’s a better one,’ she said, because she didn’t want him to worry. Robbie had taken to worrying about everything.

‘We’re moving house,’ Chase declared, glancing up from his car. ‘All the way across the world!’

‘Country,’ she corrected.

Chase stared at her and then nodded. ‘Country,’ he repeated. ‘Can we move to the moon?’

‘Not this week.’ She grinned. Robbie and Chase—her darling boys—they made it all worthwhile.

‘It sounds exciting,’ Mr Fairhall said. He glanced at Robbie. ‘And if you’re in an even better car now that probably means your trip is going to be lucky too.’

She liked him then. Amid his own troubles he found the time to be nice to a couple of young boys—and not just nice but reassuring. If he hadn’t already won her vote he’d have had it now.

‘The plane strike seems to be turning the country on its head. I hope it ends soon so you can be where you need to be.’

He must have a crazy schedule. Actually—she rested one hand on a hip and surveyed him—maybe this would prove a blessing in disguise. He looked tired. A rest from the hurly-burly might do him the world of good.

His eyes darkened with some burden that would have to remain nameless because she had no intention of asking about it. ‘Rumour has it that things on that front are going to take...’ his shoulders sagged ‘...time.’

She winced.

‘Mrs Laverty?’ A man bounced out from behind the wheel of a white station wagon. ‘Your car.’

She nodded as he handed her the keys with a cheery, ‘Safe driving.’

‘Thank you.’

Mr Fairhall rose. ‘You boys have a great journey, okay?’ And as he spoke he lifted their backpacks into the back of the wagon.

‘Can I sit back here with the backpacks?’ Chase asked, climbing in beside them.

‘Most certainly not,’ she countered, lifting him out again. ‘Thank you,’ she said to Mr Fairhall as he closed the wagon.

‘Where are you going when the planes work again?’ Chase asked as Quinn ushered him around to the back seat.

‘Sydney.’

‘That’s near where we’re going,’ Robbie said. ‘We looked it up on the map.’ He pulled out the map he’d been keeping in his shorts pocket.

The swift glance her polite politician sent her then had her stomach tightening.

‘You’re going to Sydney?’

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. ‘A couple of hours north of Sydney.’

‘You wouldn’t consider...?’

He broke off, no doubt in response to the rictus of a smile that had frozen to her face.

‘No, of course not,’ he said softly, as if to himself.

The boys glanced from her to him and back again.

Darn it! This was supposed to be a family trip. This road trip was about giving the boys a holiday...with the opportunity to ask her whatever questions they wanted about this new life they were embarking upon. In a relaxed atmosphere. Another person—a stranger—would throw those dynamics out completely.

She made herself brisk. ‘C’mon, boys, in the car. Seat belts fastened, please.’

Aidan Fairhall nodded at her. ‘Safe trip.’

‘Thank you.’

Darn it. Darn it. Darn it.

He moved back to the bench. She stowed her handbag, made sure the kids had their seat belts fastened and then moved to the driver’s seat. She glanced at Mr Fairhall and bit her lip.

‘He wanted to come with us,’ Chase said.

Why did children have to be so perceptive when you didn’t want them to be and so obtuse when you did?

‘You always tell us we should help people when they need it,’ Robbie pointed out.

She turned in her seat and surveyed them both. ‘You’d like to invite Mr Fairhall along on our journey?’

Robbie stared back. ‘How’d you know his name?’

‘I’ve seen him on the television. He’s a politician.’

‘Would he come all the way with us?’

‘I’m not sure. As soon as the plane strike ends he might jump ship at any place that has an airport.’

‘He’s a nice man,’ Chase said.

She had a feeling Chase was right.

Robbie studied the object of their conjecture and then turned back. ‘He looks kinda sad.’

‘Yeah.’ She tried not to let those slumped shoulders pluck too hard at her. It was just... She knew exactly how that felt—the defeat, the worry and the helplessness.

‘It might make our trip luckier,’ Robbie said.

She couldn’t mistake the hope in his eyes. She bit her lip to stop from saying something rash. Her eldest son ached for a male role model and the knowledge cut at her. Not that she expected Aidan Fairhall to fill that role. Still...

She blew out a breath and wound down the passenger side window. ‘Mr Fairhall?’

He glanced up.

‘We’ve just had a family conference.’

He stood. He wasn’t terribly tall—he might be six feet—but he had a lean athletic body that moved with effortless grace. She watched him approach—stared as he approached—and her mouth started to dry and her heart started to pound. She tried to shake herself out from under the spell, only she found she’d frozen in position. She wished now she hadn’t called him over. With a superhuman effort she cleared her throat. ‘As we’re...uh...all headed in the same direction we thought if you would like a lift all or part of the way...’

He blinked. Hope lit his face, making it truly beautiful, firing his brown eyes with a light that made her swallow. They weren’t a boring brown, but a deep amber that brought to mind blazing hearth fires, fine brandies and rich caramel.

Then the light in those beautiful eyes faded and for some reason her heart sank too. Maybe it was the unspoken judgement she recognised in those deep amber depths. She sat back a little. She swallowed. ‘I’m not given to recklessness, Mr Fairhall. I recognised you and I like your public persona. I like your education policies more.’

His lips twisted but the darkness faded from his eyes. His fingers drummed against the roof of the car.

‘But, as I don’t actually know you, and if you do take us up on our very kind offer, I’ll be informing the manager of this car hire company that you’ll be accompanying us. I’ll also be ringing my aunt to tell her the same.’ He didn’t say anything. She shrugged and forced herself to add, ‘But if we can help you out in any way then we’d be happy to.’

‘Why would you do that?’

‘People should help each other out always,’ her earnest eldest son said.

‘And you looked sad,’ Chase added.

The light in those amazing eyes faded again, although the lips kept their smile.

Quinn rushed on. ‘Also, it’d be nice to share some of the driving...not to mention the fuel costs. I’m afraid it wouldn’t precisely be a free ride.’ She’d sensed that would go against the grain with him.

There was a long silence. Quinn kicked herself. ‘I’m sorry we have you at a disadvantage. I’m Quinn Laverty and these are my sons, Robbie and Chase.’ She fished her licence out and handed it to him as proof of both her identity and the fact she could drive. ‘If you decide to accompany us I’d want you to phone someone to let them know about your plans and who you’re travelling with.’

He handed the licence back to her. ‘I’m not given to recklessness either, Mrs Laverty.’

She didn’t bother correcting the Mrs. ‘Quinn,’ she said instead. As she had no intention of becoming romantically involved with any man, let alone a politician—dear God!—the Mrs provided her with another level of protection.

Not that she needed protection from unwanted suitors. She could squash them flat as easily as swatting bugs. But correcting that Mrs might give the wrong impression.

Aidan Fairhall was from her parents’ world and she had no intention of returning to that world. Ever.

She shuddered. Another long silence ensued. Eventually she cleared her throat. ‘I’m sorry to hurry you, Mr Fairhall, but we’d really like to get going soon.’

* * *

Aidan’s gaze snapped to Quinn Laverty’s. ‘If it was just work commitments I wouldn’t dream of imposing on you like this.’ His father would hit the roof if he ever heard Aidan utter that sentiment. ‘But...’ He hesitated.

‘But?’

She had an unhurried way of speaking that was restful.

‘I have a family commitment I have to meet.’

‘Like I said, if we can help...’

She’d probably harangue him the entire way, pointing out all the flaws in his proposed policies, but... He had a sudden vision of his mother’s worn eyes. He nodded. The alternative was worse. He made his lips curve upwards even though the heaviness in his heart made that nearly impossible. ‘I will be forever in your debt. Thank you, I’d very much like to take you up on your very kind offer.’ He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and gestured the manager back over.

Quinn spoke to the manager.

Aidan rang his mother.

As he expected, she fretted at the news. ‘But you don’t even know this woman, darling, and it’s such a long way to drive. How do you know you’ll be safe?’

He tried to allay her fears. Not very successfully. Eventually he said, ‘If it will make you happier, I’ll remain in Perth until the plane strike is over.’ He had to grit his teeth as he said it. He had to remind himself there were a lot of reasons for her anxieties and apprehensions.

‘But you must be back in time for the party!’

Yes. He bit back a sigh. He must be back in time for the party. Still, it was a fortnight away.

‘Harvey thinks the industrial action will be protracted. He’s talking seven whole days. I can’t get a train or bus ticket out of the place or hire a car for the next week. Everything is booked solid.’

‘Oh, dear.’

He didn’t need to see her to know the way her hands fluttered about her throat. ‘This is my best option. As soon as the strike ends, I’ll make my way to the nearest airport and be home as soon as I can.’

‘Oh, dear.’

‘I really don’t think there’s anything to worry about, Mother.’ And movement of any kind beat kicking his heels in Perth.

There was a slight pause. ‘Of course you must do what you think best, darling.’

And thereby she absolved herself of any responsibility and placed it all squarely on Aidan’s shoulders. He tried not to bow under its weight. ‘I’ll call you this evening.’

He collected his overnight case and stowed it in the back. ‘You travel light,’ Quinn observed.

He slid into the passenger seat. ‘I was only supposed to be in Perth for a single night.’

She started the car up and eased it out of the car park and onto the road. ‘It’s a long way to come for just a day.’

‘Two days,’ he corrected. ‘And one night.’

He thought she might glance at him then, but she kept her eyes on the road. ‘I see you’re a man who knows how to make the most of his time.’

‘That’s me.’

Quinn Laverty had a blonde ponytail and wore a kind of crazy oversized tie-dyed dress that covered her to her ankles. She wasn’t exactly a flower power child, but there was something of the hippy about her.

The longer he stared at her, the more he wanted to keep staring. Crazy. He loosened his tie a fraction and turned to the boys. ‘Robbie and Chase, it’s great to meet you. Thank you for letting me share your journey.’

‘You’re welcome, Mr Fairhall,’ the elder, Robbie, said with perfect manners.

He could see the path set out for the boy now—school prefect, school captain, dux, university medal and then a high-powered job in the public service.

What a nightmare!

Only for you.

He pushed the thought away. ‘If it’s okay with your mother you can call me Aidan.’

Quinn glanced at him briefly. Her lips tilted up into an easy smile. ‘That’s okay with me.’

Ten minutes later they stopped at an unprepossessing house and loaded the back of the car with an assortment of boxes and suitcases. The backpacks moved onto the back seat with the boys. Aidan insisted on doing all the heavy lifting.

‘See you, Perth,’ Quinn said with a jaunty wave at the house.

Both boys waved too.

‘Can we play our Gameboys now?’ Chase asked.

‘You can.’

Both boys whooped and dived into their backpacks. She glanced at Aidan and rolled her eyes. ‘They were specially bought for the trip.’

Probably quite a financial outlay for a single mum. Not that he had any proof that she was single.

‘And the deal was that they weren’t allowed to play them until the trip itself started.’

Smart move. Those things would keep the boys occupied for hours, which, quite obviously, had been her plan. He settled back in his seat as the suburbs of Perth passed by one after the other. ‘I know the clerk back at the store called you Mrs Laverty, but I also notice you’re not wearing a wedding ring.’ He kept his tone neutral. He didn’t want her thinking he was judging her or condemning her in any way. ‘Are you married or single or...’

Her brows lifted. ‘Does it matter?’

He loosened his tie a tiny bit more. ‘Not at all. But some people get fixated on titles so I always like to get them straight.’

‘I prefer Ms.’

Which told him precisely nothing at all. When he met her gaze, she laughed. Sparkling green eyes momentarily dazzled him. ‘You first,’ she dared.

A question like that would normally have him sitting up straighter. Instead he found himself chuckling and relaxing back into his seat even more. ‘Single. Most definitely single. Never been married; hence, never been divorced and not currently in a relationship.’

‘Ditto,’ she said.

‘So, are you moving back home? Is Newcastle where you grew up?’

‘No.’

Her face shuttered closed—not completely but in a half-fan—and he bit back a sigh. False start number one.

A moment’s silence ensued and then she turned to him with a smile that was too bright. ‘Is your campaign going well?’

He bit back a curse. Was that all people could think to converse with him about—his darn job? ‘Yes.’

Another moment’s silence. False start number two. For pity’s sake, he was good at small talk. He opened his mouth. He closed it again. The deep heaviness in his chest grew. Normally he could push it away, ignore it, but today it gave him no quarter. It was this stupid plane strike and the break in his routine. It had given him time to think.

Thinking wouldn’t help anything!

She glanced at him, her face sober, and he knew then that she was going to bring up the subject he most dreaded. He wanted to beg her not to, but years of good breeding prevented him.

‘How are you and your parents now, since your brother...?’

That was a different approach to most, but...The heaviness started to burn and ache. He rested his head back against his seat and tried to stop his lip from curling.

‘I’m sorry. Don’t answer that. It was a stupid thing to ask. Grieving in public must be harrowing. I just wanted to say I’m truly sorry for your loss, Aidan.’

The simple words with their innate sincerity touched him and the burn in his chest eased a fraction. ‘Thank you, Quinn.’

Two beats passed. Quinn shuffled in her seat a little and her ponytail bounced. ‘I’m moving to an olive farm.’

He straightened and turned to her. ‘An olive farm?’

‘Uh-huh.’ She kept her eyes on the road, but she was grinning. ‘I bet that’s not a sentence you hear every day, is it?’

‘It’s not a sentence I have ever heard uttered in my life.’

‘It’s probably not as startling as saying I was moving to an alpaca farm or going to work on a ferret breeding programme. But it’s only a degree or two behind.’

She’d made things good—or, at least, better—just like that. With one abrupt and startling admission. ‘What do you know about olives?’

She lifted her nose in the air. ‘I know that marinated olives on a cheese platter is one of life’s little pleasures.’

He laughed. She glanced at him and her eyes danced. ‘What about you; what do you know about olives?’

‘That they grow on trees. That they make olive oil. And that marinated olives on a cheese platter is one of life’s little pleasures.’

She laughed then too and he couldn’t remember a sound he’d ever enjoyed more. He closed his eyes all the better to savour it. It was the last thing he remembered.

* * *

Aidan sat bolt upright and glanced around. He was alone in the car. He peered at his watch.

He closed his eyes and shook his right arm, but when he opened them again the time hadn’t changed. He’d slept for two hours?

He pressed his palms to his eyes and dragged in a breath before stretching to the right and then the left to ease the cricks in his back and neck. Finally he took stock of his surroundings. Quinn had parked beneath a huge old gum tree to give him shade. At the moment she, Robbie and Chase kicked a ball around on a big oval in front of him. She’d hitched her dress up to mid-thigh into a pair of bike shorts.

His eyes widened. Man, she was...fit!

He shook his head and pressed fingers to his eyes again.

With bones that literally creaked, he pushed out of the car and stretched. Warm air caressed his skin and he slid his suit jacket off to lay it on the front seat. Quinn waved and then pointed behind him to an amenities block. ‘They’re clean and well maintained,’ she called out.

He lifted a hand to let her know he’d heard.

When he returned he found her sitting cross-legged on a blanket at the edge of the oval beside an assortment of bags.

‘Where are we?’

‘Wundowie.’

He pulled out his smart phone and searched for it on the Internet. ‘We’ve been travelling...’

‘Nearly two and a half hours, though we’re still only about an hour out of Perth. There was a lot of traffic,’ she said in answer to his raised eyebrow. ‘And there was some mini-marathon we had to be diverted around.’ She shrugged. ‘It all took time. Would you like a sandwich or an apple?’ She opened a cooler bag and proffered its contents towards him. ‘Or water? There’s plenty here.’

He reached for a bottle of water. ‘Thank you, I’m parched.’

‘But well rested,’ she said with a laugh.

His hand clenched about the water bottle, making the plastic crackle. ‘You should’ve woken me.’

She turned from watching the boys as they continued with their game. ‘Why?’

He opened his mouth. He closed it again and rubbed the nape of his neck. ‘I, uh... It wasn’t very polite.’

‘It wasn’t impolite. You were obviously tired and needed the sleep.’

She selected an apple and crunched into it. ‘Please eat something. It’ll only go to waste and I hate that.’

He took a sandwich. Ham and pickle. ‘Thank you.’ And tried to remember the last time he’d let his guard down so comprehensively as to fall asleep when he hadn’t meant to.

It certainly hadn’t happened since Daniel had died.

His appetite fled. Nevertheless he forced himself to eat the sandwich. He wouldn’t be able to stand the fuss his mother would make if he became ill. And this woman beside him had gone to the trouble of making these sandwiches for her children and herself and had chosen to share them with him. The least he could do was appreciate it.

He and Quinn sat side by side on the grass with their legs stretched out in front of them. They didn’t speak much. A million questions pounded through him, but they were all far too personal and he had no right to ask a single one of them.

But the inactivity grated on him. It didn’t seem to have that effect on Quinn, though. She lifted her face to the sky and closed her eyes as if relishing the sun and the day and the air. Eventually she jumped up again. ‘I’m going to have another run with the boys for a bit. Stretch my legs. Feel free to join in.’

He glanced down at himself. ‘I’m not exactly dressed for it.’

She took in his tie, his tailored trousers and polished leather shoes. ‘No,’ she agreed and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so summarily dismissed. ‘Oh, I meant to tell you earlier that we’re only going as far as Merredin today,’ she shot over her shoulder before racing off towards the boys.

He looked Merredin up on his smart phone. A quick calculation informed him it was only another two hours further on. Surely they could travel further than that in a day? He scowled and started answering email. He might as well do something useful. He made phone calls.

They stayed in Wundowie for another thirty minutes. He chafed to be away the entire time but was careful not to keep glancing at his watch. If they were only going as far as Merredin they’d be there mid-afternoon as it was. An additional half an hour in Wundowie either way wouldn’t much matter.

* * *

Aidan would’ve liked to have kept working when they were back in the car, but he suspected Quinn would consider that bad manners.

He dragged a hand through his hair. What was he thinking? Of course it’d be bad manners. Besides, she and the boys had kept quiet so he could sleep and it hardly seemed fair to continue to expect such ongoing consideration. Especially when they were doing him a favour.

The fact his phone battery was running low decided it. He tucked it away and glanced around to the back seat. ‘Do you boys play a sport?’

‘Soccer,’ said Robbie.

‘Robbie is the best runner on his team,’ Chase said.

Quinn glanced at him. ‘He means fastest.’

Robbie’s mouth turned down. ‘I mightn’t be in my new team.’

Quinn tensed. Aidan tried not to wince. He hadn’t meant to tread into sensitive territory. ‘Uh...’ He searched for something to say.

‘Do you play sport?’ Robbie asked.

‘Not any more.’ And all of a sudden his heart felt heavy as a stone again.

‘Why are you on the television?’ Chase demanded to know. ‘Mum said she’d seen you.’

‘Because of my job. I’m a politician so I go on television to tell people how I’d run the country if they vote for me.’

Robbie frowned. ‘Do you like your job?’

A bitter taste lined his mouth. ‘Sure I do.’

‘What do you do?’

‘Well, I go into my office most days and I go to lots of meetings and...’ Endless meetings. It took an effort of will to keep the tiredness out of his voice. ‘I go on the television and talk on the radio and talk to newspaper reporters so they can tell all the people about the things I think would make our country run better. I have people who work for me and we draft up proposals for new policies.’

‘Wouldn’t being a fireman be more fun?’

‘A fireman would be excellent fun,’ he agreed. Lord, his mother would have a fit! He almost laughed.

‘When you’re finished being a politician maybe you could be a fireman,’ Chase said.

‘And then you could play soccer too,’ added Robbie.

He didn’t know how those two things were linked. He glanced at Quinn for direction. She merely smiled at him.

‘Mum, can we play one of our CDs now?’

‘I did promise the boys we’d play one of our CDs on this leg of our journey. We burned a few especially.’

‘I don’t mind.’ It’d save him searching for topics of conversation.

‘We sing pretty loud.’

‘You don’t need to apologise about that.’

For some reason that made her grin. ‘You haven’t heard our singing yet.’

He forced himself to smile.

She slipped a CD into the player. ‘The Purple People-Eater’ immediately blasted from the speakers and his three companions burst into loud accompaniment, the boys laughing throughout most of the song. That was followed by ‘Llama Llama Duck’ and then ‘My Boomerang Won’t Come Back’.

He stared at her. ‘You have to be joking me?’

‘Fun novelty songs are our favourite.’ Her grin was so wide it almost split her face. ‘If there’s a doo-wop or chirpy-chirpy-cheep-cheep to be had then we love it.’

Hell, that was what this was. Absolute hell. He slunk down in his seat and stared straight out in front of him as the songs came at him in a relentless round. ‘This isn’t music!’ He glared at the road. ‘You could’ve warned me about this back in Perth.’ No way would he have got into the car with her then.

Then he thought of his mother.

Quinn merely sang, ‘I’m a yummy, tummy, funny, lucky gummy bear,’ with extra gusto.

He closed his eyes, but this time sleep eluded him.

CHAPTER TWO

THEY REACHED MERREDIN ninety minutes later. It had felt like ninety hours. Aidan had endured forty minutes of the ‘Monster Mash’, ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ and many more novelty songs, which was enough to last him a lifetime. Twenty minutes of I Spy had followed and then a further thirty minutes of the number plate game. There was only one rule to the game, as far as he could tell, and that was who could make up the silliest phrase from the letters of a passing number plate.

PHH. Penguin haircuts here. Purple Hoovering hollyhocks. Pasta hates ham.

LSL. Larks sneeze loudly. Little snooty limpets. Lace scissored loquaciously.

CCC. Cream cake central. Can’t clap cymbals. Cool cooler coolest.

And on and on and on it went, like some kind of slow Chinese water torture. His temples throbbed and an ache stretched behind his eyes. He didn’t join in.

He sat up straighter though when Quinn eased the car down the town’s main street. He glanced up at the sky. There was another four hours of daylight left yet. Another four hours of good driving time.

Manners prevented him from pointing this out. Biting back something less than charitable, he studied the few shops on offer. Maybe he’d be able to hire a car of his own out here?

Quinn parked the car in the main street and turned off the motor. ‘The boys and I are staying at the caravan park, but I figured you’d be more comfortable at the motel.’

A caravan park? He suppressed a shudder. Again, he didn’t say anything. Quinn was obviously on a tight budget.

She and the boys all but bounced out of the car. Aidan found his limbs heavy and lethargic. It took an effort of will to make them move. He wondered where Quinn found all her energy. Maybe she took vitamins. Unbidden, an image of her racing around the soccer oval in her bike shorts and dress rose up through him and for some reason his throat tightened.

He glanced up to find her watching him. He felt worn and weary, but her ponytail still bounced and her cheeks were pink and pretty. She waited, as if expecting him to say something, and then she merely shrugged. ‘The motel is just across the road.’ She pointed. ‘We’ll collect you at nine in the morning.’

He snapped to and retrieved his overnight bag from the back of the wagon. ‘I’ll be ready earlier. Say six or seven if you wanted to get an early start.’

‘Nine o’clock,’ she repeated, and he suddenly had the impression she was laughing at him.

She swung back to the boys. ‘Right!’ She clapped her hands. ‘Chase, I need you to find me a packet of spaghetti and, Robbie, I need you to find me a tin of tomatoes.’

As they walked away he heard Chase ask, ‘What are you looking for?’

‘Minced meat and garlic bread.’ And they all disappeared into the nearby supermarket.

He’d been summarily dismissed. Again.

From a grocery trip? He shook the thought off and headed across the road to the motel.

His room was adequate. Merredin might be the regional centre for Western Australia’s wheat belt, but as far as he was concerned it wasn’t much more than a two-horse town and his early enquiries about hiring a car proved less than encouraging.

He strode back to his motel room, set his phone to charge and then flipped open his laptop and searched Google Maps. He frowned. What the heck...? If they kept travelling at this pace it’d take them two weeks to drive across the country!

His hands clenched for a moment. Counting to three, he unclenched them and pulled a writing pad from his briefcase and started to plot a route across the continent. He spread out a map he’d grabbed from the motel’s reception and marked logical break points where he and Quinn could swap driving duties.

That took all of twenty minutes. He closed his laptop and glanced about his room. There didn’t seem to be much more to do. He wandered about the room, opening the wardrobe doors and the desk drawer. He made a coffee that he didn’t drink. He reached for his cell phone to call his mother, stared at it for a moment and then shoved it back onto its charger.

Flopping back onto the bed, he stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an eon. When he glanced at his watch, though, he cursed. What on earth was he going to do for the rest of the afternoon, let alone the rest of the night?

He raised himself to his elbows. He could go and find Quinn and the boys.

Why would you do that?

He sat up and drummed his fingers against his thighs, before shooting to his feet. He tore the page from his writing pad and stalked from the room.

It didn’t take him long to find the caravan park. And it didn’t take him long to locate Robbie and Chase either. They played—somewhat rowdily—on a playground fort in primary colours so bright they hurt his eyes. And then he saw Quinn. She sat cross-legged on a blanket beside a nearby caravan, and something about her sitting in the afternoon light soothed his eyes.

‘Hey, Aidan,’ she called out when she saw him. ‘Feeling at a loose end, huh?’

He rolled his shoulders. ‘I’m just exploring. Thought I’d come see where you were camped.’

She lifted her face to the sun. ‘This is a nice spot, isn’t it?’

It was? He glanced around, searching for whatever it was that she found ‘nice’, but he came up blank.

‘I thought you’d be busy catching up on all of your work.’

It hit him that in amongst all of his restlessness it hadn’t occurred to him to ring back into the office. They knew he was delayed, but...

It didn’t mean he had to stop working. There’d still be the usual endless round of email that needed answering. He could’ve set up meetings for this evening on Skype.

The thought of all that work made him feel as tired as the idea of ringing his mother. When Quinn gestured to the blanket he fell down onto it, grateful for the respite.

He had no right feeling so exhausted. He’d done next to nothing all day. He shook himself in an effort to keep the moroseness at bay, glanced around as if he were curious about his surroundings. If he pretended well enough, maybe he’d start to feel a flicker of interest and intent again. Maybe. ‘Are you planning to stay in caravan parks for all of your journey?’

‘You bet.’

He kept his face smooth, but somehow she saw through him and threw her head back with a laugh. ‘Not your idea of a good time, I see.’

‘I wouldn’t say that.’ He wasn’t a snob, but... Walking to an amenity block when he could have an en suite bathroom? No, thanks.

‘Only because you’re incredibly polite.’

She made that sound like an insult.

‘Look about you, Aidan. This place caters to children far better than your motel does. Most caravan parks do. Look at all that open green space over there. The boys can kick a ball around to their hearts’ content. And then there’s that playground, which I might add is fenced.’

In those eye-gouging primary colours.

‘Robbie is old enough not to wander off, but Chase is still easily distracted.’

He straightened when he realised this place gave her peace of mind. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’

‘And there’re usually other children around for them to play with too.’

He watched another two children approach the playground.

‘Most people here won’t mind a bit of noise from the children, but I bet you’re glad we’re not staying in the room next to yours at the motel.’

He rolled his shoulders. ‘It’s not a bad noise. It’s just a bit of laughing and shouting.’

She raised her eyebrows.

‘But I take your point.’

‘It’d be hard to get any work done with all that noise.’

There she was, talking about work again.

He promptly pulled the itinerary he’d plotted out for them from his pocket along with the map and smoothed them on the rug between them. ‘I thought that tomorrow we could make it as far as Balladonia. If we wanted to take two-hour shifts driving, which is what all the driver reviver and driving safety courses recommend, then we could change here, here and here.’ He pointed out the various locations on the map.

Quinn leaned back on her hands and laughed. ‘I’ve seen this movie. In this particular scenario you’re Sally and I’m Harry, right?’

He stared at her. What on earth was she talking about?

‘When Harry Met Sally,’ she said when he remained silent. ‘The movie? You know? Sally who’s a bit uptight and super-organised and Harry who’s casual and laidback?’

He searched for something to say.

‘There’s a scene early in the movie when they’re driving across America together and...’ Her voice lost steam. ‘You haven’t seen the movie?’

He shook his head.

Her face fell. ‘But it’s one of the classic rom-coms of all time.’

For some reason he felt compelled to apologise. ‘I’m sorry.’

And for some reason he couldn’t fathom that made her smile again, only it wasn’t the kind of smile that reached her eyes. She touched his map and shook her head. ‘No.’

He blinked. ‘No?’ But...

She laughed and he could see it was partly in frustration with him, but she didn’t do it in a mean way. She rested back on her hands again. ‘Aidan, you really need to learn to relax and chill out a bit.’

And just like that she reminded him of Daniel.

It should’ve hurt him.

But it didn’t.

* * *

‘I...’

He stared at her as if he’d never seen her before. Or as if no one had ever told him to slow down and smell the roses. He stared at her as if that very concept was totally alien.

She bit back a sigh. This trip—spending time with her boys and doing all she could to make this transition in their lives exciting and easy—was important to her. Taking pity on Aidan and inviting him to join them had thrown the dynamic off more than she’d anticipated. She’d promised the boys a holiday and she wasn’t going back on her word.

And eight hours a day driving wasn’t a holiday in anybody’s vocabulary.

‘We probably should’ve compared notes about the kind of travelling we were expecting to do before we left Perth.’ How could he know she meant to take it slow if she hadn’t explained it to him? He was obviously in a hurry, but... ‘It didn’t occur to me at the time.’ She moistened her lips. ‘But we’re obviously working on two different timetables here.’

Her stomach churned. He was probably used to everyone rushing around at a million miles an hour. That was what people from his world—her parents’ world—did.

Don’t hold that against him. It doesn’t make him like your parents.

‘I made enquiries in town to see if I could hire a car of my own.’

She swallowed. It’d be one solution to the problem. ‘And?’

‘No luck, I’m afraid.’

‘I see.’

‘You’re regretting taking me on as a passenger.’ He said it simply, without rancour, but there was such exhaustion stretching through his voice it was all she could do to not reach across and clasp his hand and to tell him he was mistaken. Only...

She glanced across at her boys, now happily playing with the newcomers to the playground. A fierce mixture of love and fear swirled through her. Pushing her shoulders back, she met his stare again. Pussyfooting around would only lead to more misunderstandings. ‘Aidan, you’ve been unfailingly polite, but you haven’t really been all that friendly.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

He gritted his teeth so hard his mouth turned white. She hated being the reason for that expression, but she soldiered on all the same, hoping she wasn’t punishing him for the reminders of the past that he’d unwittingly brought rushing back to her. ‘You didn’t join in on our singalong. You didn’t play I Spy or the number plate game.’

He stared at her. For someone groomed to project and maintain a certain image, he looked all at sea. ‘Please don’t tell me you want to part company here in this two-horse town.’

‘Of course not!’ How could he think she’d abandon him like that?

‘Once we reach Adelaide I’ll make other arrangements.’

‘Okay.’ She bit her thumbnail for a moment, unable to look at him. Adelaide was still six or possibly seven days away yet. If she could make him see how important this trip was...well, then, he might make more of an effort to fit in. Maybe.

She stretched her legs out in front of her. ‘You know what I think? I think we should break the ice a little. I think we should ask the questions that have been itching through us and get that all out of the way.’

He looked so utterly appalled she had to bite her lip to stop from laughing. This man took self-contained to a whole new level. ‘Or, better yet, why don’t we tell each other something we think the other wants to know?’

His expression didn’t change but she ignored it to clap her hands. ‘Yes, that’ll be much more fun. I’ll go first, shall I?’ she rushed on before he could object. She crossed her legs again. ‘I’m going to tell you why Robbie, Chase and I are on a road trip across the continent.’

He shifted, grew more alert. She could tell from the way his eyes focused on her and his shoulders straightened. Oh, he was appalled still, of course, but she hoped his curiosity would eventually conquer his resistance.

‘The olive farm is in the Hunter Valley wine district and it belongs to my aunt. She’s the black sheep of the family.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘And I happen to take after her.’

‘Your family consider you a black sheep?’

A question! She schooled her features to hide her triumph. ‘Actually, in all honesty, I’d be very surprised if my parents thought about me at all these days. They’re from Sydney. I became pregnant with Robbie when I was eighteen. They wanted me to go to university and carve out some mythically brilliant career. When I decided to have my baby instead, they cut me off.’

His jaw dropped. He mightn’t be ‘friendly’ in a traditional sense, but he didn’t strike her as the kind of man who’d walk away from his family when they needed him.

And you’re basing that on what—his pretty smiles and earnest eyes in his television interviews?

Hmm, good point.

‘Siblings?’

Another question! ‘None. So, after my parents handed me their ultimatum, I packed my bags and moved to Perth.’

‘Why Perth?’

‘Because it was about as far away from Sydney as I could get while still remaining in the country.’

He stared at her for a long moment. She held her breath and crossed her fingers that he’d ask a fourth question.

‘Did Robbie’s father go with you?’

She wanted to beam at him for asking. ‘Yes, he did.’ But she didn’t want to tell him that story. ‘When I had Robbie my Aunt Mara—’

‘Of black sheep fame?’

He was totally hooked, whether he knew it or not. ‘The very one. Well, she came across to Perth to help me out for a couple of weeks. I was barely nineteen with a new baby. I appreciated every bit of help, advice and support she gave me.’

He plucked a nearby dandelion. ‘That’s nice.’

‘She didn’t have to. We’d had very little to do with each other when I was growing up.’ Her parents had made sure of that. ‘But those two weeks bonded us together in a way I will always cherish. We’ve been close ever since.’

‘You’re moving to be nearer to her?’

A little twist of fear burrowed into her gut. She shifted on the blanket. She was turning all of their lives upside down. What if she was making a mistake? They’d had a perfectly comfortable life in Perth.

You weren’t happy.

Her happiness had nothing to do with it. She scratched her nose and stared across at Robbie and Chase.

‘Quinn?’

She shook herself and pasted on a smile. ‘Mara is only fifty-two but she’s developed severe arthritis. She needs a hip replacement.’ She needed help. ‘My boys don’t have any family in Perth. I think it’d be nice for them to know Mara better.’

Comprehension flashed across his face. ‘You’re moving there to look after her.’

‘I expect we’ll all look after each other. Like I said, she owns an olive farm and her second-in-command recently married and moved to the States.’

‘And you’re going to fill the position?’

He didn’t ask with any judgement in his voice. She shouldn’t feel as if she’d been found so...lacking. ‘Yes.’

She tossed her head. Besides, she was looking forward to that challenge. Her admin job in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Western Australia had palled years ago. Not that it had ever had much shine.

Still, it had provided them with the security of a fortnightly pay packet. It had supported her and the boys for the last five years. It—

She slammed a halt on the doubts that tried to crowd her. If worse came to worse, if things didn’t work out at Aunt Mara’s, she’d be able to pick up an office job in no time at all. Somewhere.

She bit back a sigh and then straightened her spine. There was absolutely no reason why things wouldn’t work out. She loved her aunt. So did the boys. The Hunter Valley was a beautiful place and the boys would thrive in all of that sunshine and the wide open spaces. They’d go to good schools and she’d get them a dog. They’d make friends fast. And so would she.

She crossed her fingers. The change might even help her overcome the ennui that had started to take her over. She’d learn new skills and maybe, eventually, she’d stop feeling so alone.

Win-win for everyone. Perfect!

She turned back to Aidan and pressed her hands together. ‘This is such an exciting time for us.’

‘And a scary one too, I imagine.’

She didn’t want to admit that. Not out loud.

‘I mean you’re turning your whole life on its head.’

She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and concentrated on keeping her breathing even.

He stared across at the playground. ‘And it’s not just your life that this decision impacts either so—’

‘Are you trying to make me hyperventilate?’ she demanded.

His jaw dropped. ‘Heck, no! I just think it’s amazing and courageous and...’

She gritted her teeth for a moment before pasting on another smile. She suspected it was more a grimace from the way Aidan eased back a fraction and kept his eyes trained on her. ‘Which is why this road trip of ours is so important to me. I’ve promised the boys that we’ll treat it as a holiday. I’m determined that we’ll take our time and that everyone will be as relaxed as possible so I can answer any questions about this new life of ours, help ease any fears and apprehensions that might come to light, and to just...’

She reached out as if to grasp the words she sought from the air. ‘To help us all look forward to this new beginning and be excited about it.’ She turned to him, willing him to understand. ‘It’s the reason I’ve been chirpy-chirpy-cheeping with all of my might.’

Beneath his tan, he paled. ‘And I’m screwing that up for you.’

‘No you’re not. Not exactly. But now that you know, maybe you can ease up a bit.’

‘And part company with you at Adelaide.’

She slapped a hand down on the blanket between them and leaned in closer. He smelled of something spicy and sharp like eucalyptus oil or crushed pine needles. She breathed him in and the constriction about her lungs eased a fraction. ‘By going with the flow and relaxing,’ she corrected. ‘You’re obviously stressed about this plane strike and getting back home to Sydney, but...’

He latched onto that. ‘But?’

‘We’re all stuck with each other for the six days or so, right?’

‘Six days!’ He swallowed. He nodded. ‘Six days. Right.’

‘So can’t you stop chafing at the constraints and just...just look at this time as a bit of a gift? Embrace it as an unexpected holiday or a timeout from a hectic schedule?’

He stared at her. ‘A holiday?’ He said the words as if testing them out. Very slowly he started to nod. ‘Fretting about the delay isn’t going to change anything, is it?’

Precisely.

‘In fact, it would be making things harder on you and the boys.’

‘And on you.’ She shook her head. ‘I hate to think what your raised cortisol levels are doing to your overall heath.’

‘Cortisol?’

‘It’s a hormone that’s released into our bloodstreams during times of stress. It’s not good for us in large constant doses.’ It took an effort of will not to fidget under his stare. She waved a dismissive hand. ‘I read about it in a book.’

This man would benefit from regular meditation too, but she didn’t suggest it. She’d suggested enough for one day. She leant back on her hands and lifted her face to what was left of the sun and made herself laugh. ‘We’re certainly getting holiday weather.’ Summer might be over officially, but nobody had informed the weather of that fact.

He glanced around and nodded.

‘Look at how blue the sky is and the golden haze on the horizon. This is my absolute favourite time of day.’

His shoulders loosened.

‘I love the way the shadows lengthen and how stands of trees almost turn purple in the shade, like those ones over there,’ she murmured.

He pulled in an audible breath and let it out in one long exhalation.

‘I just want to drink it all in.’

They were quiet for a few moments. She hoped he was savouring the afternoon as much as she was.

‘You remind me of someone.’

It was the most relaxed she’d heard him sound. ‘Who?’

He swivelled to face her. ‘My turn.’

She blinked. ‘For?’

‘For sharing something I think you want to know.’

It took all her willpower to not lean forward, mouth agape. She hadn’t expected him to actually take part in her ‘you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine’ strategy. She’d just wanted to impress upon him the importance of this trip. Not that she had any intention of telling him that now, though.

‘Okay.’ She forced her eyes back to the hazy horizon, careful to not make him feel self-conscious.

‘Daniel’s death has devastated my family.’

His brother had died in a car accident eight months ago now. It had made all the headlines. She gripped a fistful of blanket, her heart burning for Aidan and his family.

‘He was the apple of my parents’ eyes. His death shattered them.’ He stared down at his hands. ‘Hardly surprising as he was a great guy.’

He didn’t have to say how much his brother’s death had devastated him. She could see it in his face. A lump ballooned in her throat.

‘Ever since Danny’s accident my mother has lived in mortal fear of losing me too.’

The poor woman.

And then Quinn saw it, what Aidan wasn’t saying. With an effort, she swallowed and the lump bruised her all the way down until it reached her stomach. ‘So this plane strike and your road trip across the country, it’s going to be a real...worry for her?’

And that was what had really been chafing at him. Not the interruption to his political campaigning or the fact he was missing important meetings.

‘What did you call it? Cortisol?’

She nodded.

He pointed skyward. ‘Hers will be through the roof.’

And Aidan wanted to do whatever he could to ease his mother’s suffering. Her heart tore for him.

‘My parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary is soon and—’

‘When?’ Good Lord! She had to make sure he got home in time for that.

‘Not until the twenty-fourth of the month.’

She let out a breath. She was hoping to be at Mara’s no later than the twenty-second. He’d get home in time.

‘I should be there helping with all the preparations. There’s a huge party planned. I encouraged them to have it. I thought it might help.’

That was when she started to wonder how much of his life he was putting on hold in an effort to allay his parents’ grief. And what of his own grief?

She surveyed him for a long moment. When he turned to meet her gaze the rich brown of his eyes almost stole her breath. She swallowed, but she didn’t look away. ‘Aidan, I am truly sorry for your loss.’

He looked ragged for a moment. ‘Thank you.’

The silence gathered about them and started to burn. ‘May I say something about your mother?’ she whispered.

He stilled. He turned back. ‘Only if you say it gently.’

Gently? Her heart started to thump. She moistened her lips and stared across to the playground with its riot of happy laughter. ‘I can’t imagine how bad it would be to lose one of my boys.’ Her voice wobbled. ‘I can’t actually imagine anything worse.’

He reached out and squeezed her hand.

‘In fact, I can’t actually comprehend it, and I’m utterly and probably somewhat selfishly grateful for that.’

‘It’s not selfish, Quinn,’ he said quietly.

‘Your poor, poor mother, Aidan.’ She clasped his hand tightly. ‘God forbid if I should ever lose Robbie, but...I can’t help feeling that wrapping Chase up in cotton wool would not be a good thing to do. For him or for me.’

He met her gaze, his face sober. ‘She can’t help her grief.’

‘No.’ But tying Aidan down like this was hardly fair. ‘You will get home safe and sound and in one piece.’ It was probably a foolish thing to say because neither one of them could guarantee that. But she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

‘Of course I will.’

‘And there’s nothing you can do for your mother at the moment except to give her a daily phone call to let her know you’re okay.’

‘No,’ he agreed.

‘Can you live with that?’

‘I guess I’ll have to.’

‘You know,’ she started slowly, ‘this might be a good thing.’

‘How?’

‘Maybe it’ll force her to focus beyond her fear, especially if she has the party to turn her attention to. And once she does that she might realise how irrational her fear is.’

His face lit up. ‘You think so?’

Oh, heavens, she’d raised his hopes. Um... ‘Maybe.’

He stared at her for a long moment and then he smiled. ‘That person you remind me of?’

Her heart started to thump. ‘Uh-huh?’

‘It’s Daniel. Quinn, you remind me of my brother.’

CHAPTER THREE

AIDAN TOOK THE first driving shift the next day. He’d thought he might have an argument on his hands about that but, after subjecting him to a thorough scrutiny, Quinn merely handed him the keys and slid into the passenger seat.

He surveyed her the best he could without alerting her to that fact. She looked a little pale, a little wan.

‘Okay, boys.’ She turned to Robbie and Chase in the back. ‘You have one hour of Gameboy time.’

Both boys whooped and dived into their backpacks. She shrugged when she caught Aidan’s eye. ‘I know it’d make things a whole lot easier and simpler, not to mention quieter, if I just let them play with their Gameboys all day, but I don’t think that’s good for them.’

‘I don’t either.’

Her brows shot up. ‘It’s something you’ve thought about?’

He might not have kids, he might not really know any kids, but it didn’t make him totally ignorant. ‘Only in the abstract.’ Besides, he hoped to have kids one day. ‘The rise in childhood obesity is worrying. I’ve been part of a government task force that’s been looking at strategies to combat it.’

‘That’s good to know.’ Yesterday she’d have asked him all sorts of questions about it. Today she stifled a yawn and stared out of the window with a mumbled, ‘Glad our taxes are being put to good use.’

Aidan had set their course on the Great Eastern Highway and the scenery grew browner and drier by the kilometre. All that was visible from the windows was low scrub, brown grass and brown dirt. For mile upon endless mile.

He glanced across at her again. ‘Rough night?’

She straightened and he wished he’d kept quiet and just let her drift off for a little while.

‘The bed was hard as a rock.’

She smiled but it left him vaguely dissatisfied. Quinn might spout assurances that this move across the country was the greatest idea ever, but he sensed a certain ambivalence in her.

That she doesn’t want to talk about.

Yesterday’s disclosures didn’t give him the right to pry.

‘I’ll sleep very well tonight, though.’ She sent him one of her buck-up smiles. ‘Whether the bed is made of rock or marshmallow.’

He determined in that moment to let her rest as much as he could. ‘Mind if I turn on the radio? I’ll keep the volume low.’

‘Sounds nice.’

Although he willed her to, she didn’t fall asleep. She merely stared out of the window and watched the unending scrub pass by. At the one hour mark she snapped to and turned to the boys. ‘Time’s up.’

There were groans and grumbles and ‘let me just finish this bit’ but within five minutes they’d tucked their Gameboys back into their bags. Quinn then asked them what games they’d been playing and received blow-by-blow accounts. She spoke her children’s lingo. She connected with them on every level and he suddenly and deeply admired her.

She was a single working mother, but she’d evidently spent time building a solid relationship with her children. It couldn’t have been easy, she’d have had to make sacrifices, but he suspected she hadn’t minded that in the least.

Robbie stretched out his arms to touch the back of Aidan’s seat. ‘How long is Aunt Mara going to be in hospital for?’

‘If all goes well, just a few days. But she’ll have to take it easy for weeks and weeks. Don’t forget, though, that her surgery isn’t scheduled until later in the year.’

‘I’ll read to her.’

‘She’ll like that.’

‘And I’ll play cars with her,’ Chase piped up, evidently not wanting to be left out.

‘Heavens! She’ll be back on her feet in no time with all of that attention.’

Robbie stretched to touch the roof. ‘What are we going to do for a car if we have to give this one back?’

‘We’re going to share Aunt Mara’s car for a while and there’s a farm ute we can use too. But we’ll buy a new one eventually. What do you guys think we should get?’

A lively discussion followed, mostly based on television ads that the boys liked. It made Aidan smile. And then he remembered Quinn’s words of yesterday and how she’d thought him unfriendly and the smile slid straight off his face. He had to do more than just listen. ‘What about a minivan?’ he suggested. ‘One of those bus things that can practically carry an entire football team.’

The boys thought that a brilliant idea. Quinn accused him of harbouring a secret desire for a shed on wheels, which made him laugh.

‘So,’ he asked when silence reigned again, ‘are you boys looking forward to the move?’

‘Yes,’ said Chase without hesitation.

In the rear-view mirror he saw Robbie frown and chew the side of his thumb. ‘I’m going to miss my friends Luke and Jason.’

Quinn’s hands clenched. He flicked a glance at them before turning his attention back to the road. ‘I know it’s not precisely the same, but you’ll be able to Skype with them, won’t you?’

Robbie frowned more fiercely. ‘What’s that?’

‘It’s like talking on the phone only on the computer, and you get to see each other.’

He stopped chewing his thumb. ‘Really?’ His face lit up. ‘Can I, Mum? Huh, can I?’

Quinn’s hands unclenched. ‘Sure you can, honey.’

She sent Aidan such a smile he was tempted to simply sit back and bask in it. But then he remembered yesterday’s impression. Unfriendly? He wasn’t having a bit of it.

‘And can I Skype with Daddy too?’

He swore every single muscle Quinn possessed bunched at that. ‘I...’ She cleared her throat. ‘I don’t see why not.’ She flashed Robbie a smile. For some reason it made Aidan want to drop his head to the steering wheel. He kept both hands tight about it, though, and his eyes glued to the road ahead. ‘You’ll have to ask him the next time he rings.’

‘’Kay.’

‘Look, kangaroos!’ Aidan hollered, pointing to the right and blessing Providence for providing them with the perfect distraction.

Both boys strained in their seats, their mouths open and their faces eager as they watched four large grey kangaroos bounce through the scrub beside the car.

Quinn leant her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.

Aidan pulled in a breath. ‘Okay, Robbie and Chase, I think it’s time I taught you a song.’

‘Is it a fun song?’ Chase demanded, as if that was the only kind of song he was interested in.

He scrubbed a hand across his chin. ‘It has a yellow submarine. Does that make it fun enough?’

‘Yes!’ the boys chorused.

Besides, it was a classic. If they were all so hell-bent on novelty songs they might as well learn the best. So he taught them the Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’. By the time they’d finished they’d reached their first rest stop. While Quinn spread out the picnic blanket in the park area behind the lone roadhouse, Aidan grabbed his laptop and downloaded the song so the boys could listen to the original version. The three of them sang along at the tops of their voices.

When they’d finished, Aidan turned to find Quinn curled on the blanket, fast asleep. He thought of his exhaustion of the previous day. He thought about how she was turning her whole world on its head. He swung back to the boys. ‘How about we kick a ball around and let your mum sleep?’

‘I’m tired of kicking a ball around,’ Chase grumbled. ‘I wanna play hopscotch instead.’

Hopscotch?

Without a murmur, Robbie went to the boot of the car and pulled out a plastic mat which, when unfolded, formed a life-sized hopscotch...court, shape or whatever one called it.

‘Uh, guys...’ Aidan glanced at Quinn. He shook his head. ‘Never mind.’

So they played hopscotch.

And darn if it wasn’t fun!

‘Are you guys worried about making friends in your new home town?’

Chase hopped. ‘Mum said it’ll be really easy to make friends in school.’

‘I expect she’s right.’ Aiden patted Chase’s back. ‘Well done, buddy; that was a big hop to end with.’

Robbie took his turn. ‘Mum said I can play Saturday morning soccer in Pokolbin, just like I did in Perth.’

‘Sport is a great way to make friends.’ He stepped back to give Robbie plenty of room to finish his turn. ‘You’re quick at this.’

‘I know.’ Robbie nodded, but as Aidan took his turn he could tell the boy was pleased with the praise.

‘You’d be quicker if you had play clothes.’

Aidan puffed over the finish line. ‘Ain’t that the truth? I’ll have to buy some when we get to Norseman this afternoon.’

Robbie squinted up at Aidan, chewing his lip. Aidan mightn’t have a kid of his own, he mightn’t have friends with kids, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that Robbie had something he wanted to ask. ‘Out with it, buddy,’ he advised.

‘You gotta promise to tell me the truth.’

Jeez! He rubbed a hand across his jaw. ‘I’ll do my best.’

‘Is hopscotch a girls’ game?’

Aidan automatically went to say no, that anyone was at liberty to play hopscotch, which wasn’t really a lie, but... He closed his mouth. Kids could be cruel and, as far as he could tell, political correctness wasn’t high on their radar, regardless of what their parents tried to teach them.

He squatted down in front of Robbie and Chase, a glance over his shoulder confirming that Quinn still slept. ‘Okay, it shouldn’t just be a girls’ game, but it kinda is.’ He didn’t want these kids getting bullied. ‘So I wouldn’t play it at your new school.’

‘Right.’ Robbie nodded, evidently glad the question had been settled.

Chase leant against Aidan and the rush of the child’s heat against his arm did something strange to Aidan’s stomach. He had a sudden primeval impulse to take out anyone who tried to hurt these kids.

‘But,’ Chase whispered, ‘I like playing hopscotch.’

And nobody should be allowed to prevent these kids from enjoying such an innocent diversion. ‘That’s why I think you should play it at home whenever you want. If anyone finds out about it and gives you a hard time, tell them your mum makes you play it with her. In fact—’ a grin built through him ‘—when you have friends around, tee up with your mum beforehand to make you all play it.’

They’d all love it. He’d tell Quinn to make cake...or chocolate crackles. Kids would forgive any eccentricity for chocolate crackles. They might groan to their parents or other kids that Ms Laverty made them play hopscotch, but then they’d remember the chocolate crackles and still think she was great.

It’d be a win all round.

He beamed at the boys. They beamed back. ‘C’mon, who’s up next?’

* * *

Quinn woke to find Aidan playing hopscotch with Robbie and Chase. She blinked. She sat up and then had to blink again. He actually looked as if he was having fun!

She suddenly grinned, all trace of her thundering headache gone. The sun, the clear blue sky and the dry dusty smells of the rest area seemed filled with a promise they’d all lacked earlier.

She lifted her chin and pushed away the doubts that had spent the night harrying and hounding her. This new beginning should be savoured, not dreaded. Mindless worrying wouldn’t help any of them.

Aidan glanced around as if he’d sensed her gaze. Her heart did a silly little flip-flop. Actually, maybe it wasn’t so silly. Perhaps it was entirely understandable. Aidan looked a whole lot more...uh, personable without his jacket and tie...or his shoes and socks.

‘You lot must be ready for a drink and a snack,’ she called out, but her voice came out a bit higher and threadier than it usually did. She blamed it on the dust in the air. The boys raced over, full of reports of their game, but she only heard every second word. Her eyes never left Aidan. He packed up the game and then ambled over—practically sauntering—and it highlighted the leanness of his hips and the power of his thighs.

And it made her throat as dry as a desert. An ancient hunger built through her. Ancient as in primeval. And ancient as in she hadn’t experienced this kind of hunger in over five years. She dragged her gaze away, refused to let it dwell on a body that interested her far too much. Bodies were just bodies. Hormones were just hormones. And this was nothing more than a hormone-induced aberration. She handed out sliced apple, carrot sticks and bottled water and kept her eyes to herself as best she could.

Aidan fell down onto the blanket beside her, slugging her with his heat. The scent of his perspiration rose up, making her gulp. She tried telling herself she loathed man sweat. But it was clean sweat earned in the service of playing with her children and she couldn’t hate it. Beneath it threaded that woodsy spice that she’d like to get to know a whole lot better.

‘How are you feeling?’

His words rumbled against her. She grabbed an apple slice and crunched it, nodding her head all the while. ‘Much better. Thank you for letting me sleep—’ she glanced at her watch ‘—for a whole hour!’ He’d taken care of the boys for a whole hour? ‘Oh my word! What kind of irresponsible mother you must think me!’ What kind of mother just fell asleep in a strange place and—?

‘I think you’re a brilliant mother, Quinn.’

She had to look at him then. Her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out.

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